The whole point of this blog is to bring some coherence into my ramblings. Mostly poetry, yes. But not quite :)
It always helps to have somebody criticize what I've written. At least THEN you know they've read it ....
You'll find pretty much constant whining here. No, I've still not QUITE grown out of it. Do we ever ?
Never ending grumbles... here we come!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Karachi CID Blast: And the Loss is Ours

Once again, we are faced with yet another tragedy. A building in Karachi's red zone was targetted this time. The fact that it was the Crime Investigation Department's (CID's) building (and a historic one) raises a lot of questions on what happened, and why did it happen.

At around 8.30pm today, my sister and I were talking on the phone. Suddenly

She: Hey, what happened?

Me: Er, what?

She: Well, our windows just shut all by themselves with a loud clang!

Me: Hain?

She: Hey listen, I'm going. I need to check out what happened. Call you back later.

A few minutes later, as I went back to my studies for the upcoming midterm, she called back again, and gave me the bad news. There had been a huge blast in the CID building.

She lives about 30 minutes' drive from the blast. So you can imagine the intensity. Its being reported that the explosives weighed around 600kg [and some reports say 1000kg]. It's beyond imagination what kind of carnage these must have caused.

I rushed to the television. Initial reports were now pouring in. The entire bulding had collapsed. The houses/residential quarters in the neighbourhood had collapsed. The cars and all other vehicles in the vicinity had been reduced to their skeletons. The buldings a little distant from the blast site had their window panes broken. All news channels were showing live coverage of the site. The scenes were beyond terrible.

I saw many ordinary people (not just policemen) injured, and even killed. There were women (elderly too), little boys and girls, young men - with bad wounds, and being taken in ambulances or in the arms of their loved ones - to the hospital. My initial shock was also due to the fact that my former office building is right there! Almost in the neighbourhood of this building. And on certain days of the month, we used to stay back in the office till late - like I remember once we stayed till 9.30pm. The thought was terrifying that had I been working in my previous workplace, the situation would have been terrible. Thank the Lord everybody I messaged, was safe and sound. The office people had returned home. All our relatives had returned home.

Almost half the city, heard this blast.

We are so near disasters, and we don't even realize it. It doesn't take long for terror to strike, for evil to show its designs, and for bodies to fall. The worst bit? The perpetrators of this tragedy had opened fire on the security personnel of the CID building before they drove in their truck. They fired with latest weapons (eyewitnesses reported) and targetted the security personnel who guarded the gates of the building. The police personnel stationed there retaliated with their own gunfire, but apparently, they were not much of a match against these heavily armed six or seven people.

This went on for ten (or 15) minutes. And it was heard by ALL those who were near that place. Again, I saw reports of people explaining how they had heard heavy duty gunfire from the PIDC area, and how they had ran for their lives, and even the traffic had been slow in that area.

My question is. For ten minutes, heavy duty firing occurs in the heart of Karachi - the ''red zone'' of Karachi - a place which is only a few yards away from the American Consulate, the CM House, Sheraton, Pearl Continental, Rangers Headquarters.....

And nobody turns a hair??????????????????

No extra security personnel arrive as back up..., nothing happens??? And these animals (whoever they are), calmly walk back to their truck, and drive it in, breaking the security barrier..? And then that vehicle is fired upon - by the security jawaans - and it explodes..?

Don't you find a serious flaw in this argument? How in the world can a truck (a truck!) full of explosives, calmly enter a high security area of Karachi, stand there for a full 10-15 minutes, while heavy firing goes on, and then explode? There is a gaping hole in this story - and based on past experiences, we're not going to get to the bottom of this incident, like all other incidents.

But who lost out on lives, infrastructure, vehicles, possibly documents and data? Us. Nobody but us! So if you still believe there is an ''Islamist'' element involved here, then I'd advise you to think again.

The only element involved here is an ''anti-human, animalistic'' one... whoever these people are, and by whatever name they call themselves, and by whatever ideology they justify themselves with. The thing that is totally 100% certain, in this confusion and doubt is: That these people cannot be in favour of Pakistan, in favour of Muslims, in any favour of our city, and our country ever ever stabilizing, or progressing.

In the end, I can only watch the rescue operation with clouded eyes, and make duas for the deceased, for the family of the deceased, for the injured, and for the countless people who have passed away in blasts exactly like this one... in the city and the country.

May Allah Protect us from evil, Give us the strength to look at our faults, to search out our enemies, and to recognize the enemy when we see them - for they may very well be walking among us, or promising us with concepts of ''human rights'', ''tolerance'', ''enlightenment'' and ''moderation''.

P.S: Mum just informed me. Since the blast literally ''shook'' half the city, many people thought its an earthquake. It was even measured on the Richter scale, and turned out to be a 3.1 intensity one. Meaning, the earth really truly shook - with the force of this blast.

May Allah Punish the perpetrators with much much greater intensity. Ameen.

9 comments:

its really sad :(..i didn't knw abt it..really sad to read the details..Its really sad feeling coz living abroad makes u realize that our country is so blessed and nothing like it..nd then such blasts occur to destroy peace :(..i hope such things never happen again..i hve experienced listening to few of those heavy ones in isb nd understand how it feels..we can juz pray nd hope all gets right..

@MajworldYeah, it was devastating. They're estimating about 100 police personnel were inside that building. But up till now, the rubble hasn't been cleared. The sight reminds one of an earthquake.. it's so bad.

Just make lots of duaá, and yeah you have to defend your country a lot - especially with Aussies ...

ya..I really hope so all gets right. I have experienced these blasts nd all.Its really bad :(..this one was a really huge blast..nd that too out of blues..Ya,we should pray nd hope all gets right. Belive me, there is nothing like our country..But these things make things terrible..nd with aussies, they don't even know about any such thing..atleast the teenagers and youth have their own lives to enjoy than to care about wat's happening around the world :) But still we need to present a sound image of our country by our work nd dealings..

@MajworldYes, Isb has had its share of blasts. In fact, this yesterday's blast was being likened to the Isb Marriott Hotel bombing. Same story, of truck exploding, building collapsing etc.

I agree. There is no place like our country. But news like this easily goes out into the international media, and I have seen it happen that people studying in foreign universities (belonging to Pakistan) are then questioned, and sometimes even judged, according to the news that gets projected.

About Me

I love reading. Arguing about something worthwhile is my favorite pastime. Limericks bring joy to me. I smile at the elderly - and I love playing with kids.
Life is strange. I'd like to decipher it ..and soon. Since it's way too short too!
Religion is my passion..Quran and Arabic are two of the main things I intend to understand soon.. Insha Allah.
I would like to know what quantum computing is ...
Coherent ? Bet not :P